Electronic correlations and excitons in conducting polymers

Abstract We review an analytically treatable method to account for multi-electronic interactions for electronic and optical properties of conjugated polymers. Our model combines the long range electron-hole ( e-h ) Coulomb attraction with a specific effect of strong effective intramonomer e-h repulsion. The theory operates with a few parameters which can be determined experimentally or from ab initio calculations. The model explains, exploits and organizes various experimental and numerical findings. E.g. we connect such different questions as shallow singlet and deep triplet excitons in phenylenes, common 1/L energy dependencies in oligomers, etc. This presentation is dedicated to memory of Michael Rice for whom conducting polymers were a great passion. More details on scientific part can be found in the contribution to the memorial volume [1].